Dr. William Mark Walker

Bill was born in Detroit to William and Veronica (nee Kelly) Walker. He was raised along with his older sister, Ann and younger sister, Wendy in what was then northern Farmington Township (now Farmington Hills). He loved North Farmington and never strayed long nor far. It was an ideal time and place to grow up. Farmlands were converted dramatically and rapidly into suburban neighborhoods with sufficient fields, woods, creeks, ponds, abandoned barns and silos for young adventurers to explore. Kids were everywhere. In the dead of summer, you could field an entire team for pick-up baseball. You walked, rode and hitchhiked alone with impunity. This was America's high-water mark. Our wealth and freedoms were unimaginable to the rest of the world. We were invincible and anything, even the moon, was possible.
Bill was a good athlete ("I get better over time!") and gifted student. He loved school, but mostly as a social platform. His favorite classes were gym, study hall and lunch. A voracious reader, he acquired the ability and confidence to teach himself and preferred to learn privately. Teachers, classmates and colleagues described him as "brilliant"; "I fooled a lot of people," he would say.
Before starting his residency, Bill independently and intensely studied anesthesiology in addition to his required class work. On the written examination given annually to all anesthesia residents in the country, Bill scored highest among his fellow residents and received one of the highest scores in the country - before starting the 3-year residency! When informed by his department chairman of the result, he asked, "Which ones did I miss?" Rumors of cheating were dispelled following intensive interviews with department administrators. Bill put it this way: "I could teach myself the science; my attending anesthesiologists would teach me the practice."
Professionally, Bill held positions of increasing clinical responsibility and in medical education and department administration, chairing various committees and serving as division or department chief. He is most proud of his time at Oakwood Hospital, Dearborn, Michigan, where, as chief of Cardiac Anesthesia, Bill, along with fellow physicians Bruce Washington, MD (cardiac surgeon), Paul Hayden, MD (intensivist) and Samir Dabous, MD (cardiologist) began Oakwood's hugely successful program in cardiac surgery.
Bill's interests included physical fitness, water skiing, and computers. He was an expert blackjack player, just not good enough to be banned from the Strip. Although not a mathematician, he understood statistics to the point of intuitively solving complex problems in his head. As a physician, since all clinical decisions involve weighing relative risks, he was a practiced, inveterate gambler!
In retirement he became a highly motivated, immensely untalented DIY-guy seduced by the Internet and YouTube into projects of wiring, plumbing, appliance-repairing, etc. The horror....
Bill is survived by his sister, Ann Walker; his devoted and remarkable former wife, Gina Walker; their wonderful children, Erin Nakayama (Edward) and Amanda Walker, and his precious grandchildren, Eva and Julian, who he loved with his whole heart. He is also survived by his loving extended family, Mary and Roger Basse; Christie and Christopher Galli; Susan Diehl and Mike Rivenburgh; and George and Cynthia (Schoen) Mashour. His parents and younger sister, Wendy, predecease him.
A private burial will take place at North Farmington Cemetery.